The year 1946 in film involved some significant events, including the release of the decade's highest-grossing film, The Best Years of Our Lives, which won seven Academy Awards.
Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1946 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
February 14 - Charles Vidor's Gilda starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford shows audiences one of the most famous scenes of the 20th century: Rita Hayworth singing "Put The Blame On Mame".
November 21 – William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.
December 20 – Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, featuring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers, and Thomas Mitchell opens in New York.
Awards
Notable films released in 1946
United States unless stated
A
Angel on My Shoulder
Anna and the King of Siam, starring Irene Dunne, Rex Harrison and Linda Darnell
Aru yo no Tonosama
B
Bad Bascomb, starring Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien and Marjorie Main
The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, starring Cornel Wilde
The Beast with Five Fingers, starring Robert Alda and Peter Lorre
Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête), directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais and Josette Day The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler, starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell – winner of 8 Oscars Beware, directed by Bud Pollard, starring Louis Jordan The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Black Beauty, starring Mona Freeman and Richard Denning The Blue Dahlia, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake Blue Skies, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire Boom in the Moon, starring Buster Keaton A Boy and His Dog, starring Harry Davenport
C
The Captive Heart, the first Prisoner of War film from World War II
Canyon Passage, starring Dana Andrews
Centennial Summer
The Chase
Children of Paradise (U.S. release) Cloak and Dagger Cluny Brown, starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones
D
The Dark Corner, starring Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens
The Dark Mirror, starring Olivia de Havilland
Deception
Decoy, a film noir starring Jean Gillie
Devotion
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Dragonwyck, starring Gene Tierney
Dressed to Kill, a Sherlock Holmes mystery directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as Watson (released in U.K. as Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code) Duel in the Sun, starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten and Lillian Gish
G
Gallant Journey, directed by William A. Wellman
Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford
Great Expectations, directed by David Lean, starring John Mills, Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson Green for Danger, starring Alastair Sim and Trevor Howard The Green Years
H
The Harvey Girls, directed by George Sidney, starring Judy Garland and John Hodiak Henry V (U.S. release) Humoresque, starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield
I
I See a Dark Stranger
It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore Ivan the Terrible
J
The Jolson Story, a biopic of Al Jolson starring Larry Parks
K
The Kid from Brooklyn
The Killers, directed by Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner
L
Let There Be Light, documentary directed by John Huston
Little Giant, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
M
Make Mine Music
Magnificent Doll, starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven
A Matter of Life and Death, written and directed by Powell and Pressburger, starring David Niven Monsieur Beaucaire, starring Bob Hope The Murderers Are Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns), starring Hildegard Knef My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Linda Darnell
N
Night and Day
A Night in Casablanca with the Marx Brothers
No Regrets for Our Youth (Waga seishun ni kuinashi) Nobody Lives Forever Notorious, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
O
The Outlaw (re-release) The Overlanders
P
Paisan, directed by Roberto Rossellini (Italy) Patrie, directed by Louis Daquin (France) People Are Funny, starring Jack Haley The Postman Always Rings Twice, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield